Shower-bath apparatus



' y .y -J-.KELLY..

` "SHOWER BATH APPARATUS. l lfT'o. 538,521.y i f' Patented Apr; 30,1895.

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-jzye722%21 A U'NlTenfSTnTns PATENT OFFICE,

JAMES KELLY, oF lentorse@iLLINoIs.

.SHOWER-BATH APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of' Letters PatentNo. 538,552.1, dated Aprilso, 1895.

Application tiled February 12, 1895. Serial' No. 538,123. (No model.)

To, all whom it may concern: I

Be itv known that I, J AMES KELLY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in

\ the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Shower-Bath Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to an improvement'in the class of apparatuscommonly provided in connection with a stationary bath-tub as'a meansfor producing a shower; and it relates, more particularly stated', toimprovement of a form ofshowering apparatus comprising an fa-nnular tubehaving an inlet and dischargeopenings for the water, and adapted to beconnected from its inlet by a flexible tube theV bath-tub.

(as rubber) with the .water-supply faucet of The ring. form oftheshowerhead adapts it to'be'sli'pped :over the head of the user to reston the shoulders and extend about the neck, leaving the hands free andenabling the shower to be used without wettingr the hai'r of the head,as is sometimes desired, particularly in the case of ladies in bathing.Y l

My object is to improve the construction of the annular'showering headby forming it in hinged sections, in order that it may be applied, asaround the neck of the user, without requiring it to be slipped over thehead; and whereby, also, the shower water may be turned on while theshowering-head is being applied without causing the hair of the head ofthe user to be wet. Moreover,'my improved coustruction is designed toenable the diameter of the showering ring to be contracted at will tocause it to fit as closely aboutv the necks of smaller persons asitfits, in its normal condition about the necks of larger persons. y

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l shows by a' perspectivev iew, diagrammatic in its nature, a bath-tub equipped with myimprovement.- Fig. 2 is a plan View of my improved sectionalshowering-ring. Fig-.3 is a section of the same, taken at the line?? onFig. 2 and viewed as indicated by the arrow; Fig. 4, a section taken atthe line 4 on Fig. 8 and viewed in the direction of the arrow, and Fig.5 a section taken lat the line 5 on Fig.

`1 and viewed-in the direction of the arrow.

A and Aare tubes provided with series of perforations r and formed. intothe shape of half-rings or approximate half-rings, to afford thesections of my improved annular showeringhead.- 'lhe two sections A andA.are

connected, to hinge them together, preferably a hollow stem pcontaininga diaphragmp, be- .l

low which there is a port o in the stem andabove it, in the stem, portso', the stem exf tending from a chamber n at one end of the othersection. The stem p passes through the chamber q, thereby connecting thesections A and A' together, a nut 'm being provided fasten the connectedparts, and the stem where it projects beyond the valve-chamber beingcorrugated to afford a nipple for the application to the showering headof arubber tube C leading from the bath-tub faucet D.

' The foregoing is one of several valve-,con structions which may beemployed with my improved showering head and still be within myinvention. Y

The sections A and A are preferably, but not necessarily closed at theirfree ends, one section, as the section A, terminating at its free end'in a socketZ to receive the adjacent spring-end of the section A.

' To use my improved device it is operated as follows: With the sectionsA and A separated at their` free ends and turned back on the hingealorded by their valve-,connection B, the port o-of the valve is closedby being then against the ground surface .of the chamber q. By bringingthe free ends of'the sections together the valve is turned to open theport o and, vwith the connecting-hose C attached to the faucet D, asthat of a bath-tub E, with the faucet turned on (as it may be with theshowering-head sections separated,"

'on the stem to bear against the nipple fn/ to Without allowing thewater to enter them)'the water passes through the porto into the chamberq, rthence in to the section A and, through the ports o', into the stemp above the diaphragmp and into the chamber n, from which it enters thesection A.'

As will be seen, the hinged-section construction in whichthe showeringhead is formed adapts it to be applied about the neck without requiringit to be slipped over the head, or to be placed about the leg of theuser without requiring it to be slipped over his foot; and by formingthe 'hingeconnection as a y valveopened by closing the sections togetherand closed by separating the latter, the user can quickly remove. thedevice from his person and at the same time shut off the showering dowin case'the shower-water shall be-too hot or too cold and requireregulation. Moreover, if the diameter of the shower-ring be too largefor' the user, it -may be reduced byseparating the free ends of thesections and forcing them to overl-ap each other to any desiredextent,so as to (it more snugly about-,'say, the nsers neck. It is particularlyfor this lastnamed function of my improved apparatus that the free endsof the sections should be closed, since otherwise, when they are causedt-o overlap, as described, the flush-water would Arun out at theirextremities.

What Iclaim' as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A shower-bath apparatus comprising an annular headhaving an inlet anddischargeopenings for the water a-nd formed in hinged tubular sections,`substantially as and forthe purposeset forth.-

2. A shower-bath apparatus comprising an annular head having an inletand dischargeopenings for the water and formed in tubular chamberssections, and a-valve-'device forming a hinge` connection between thesections to be opened and closed by closing and opening said sections ontheir hinge, substantially as 'and for i the purpose set forth.

3. A shower-bath apparatus comprising ansections A andA', one sectionhaving asocket at one end to receive the adjacent end of the othersection, and 'a valve-device forming a hinge-.connection between saidsections at their opposite ends to be opened and closed by closing andopeningsaid sections on their4 hinge, substantially as and forthepurpose set forth.

, 5., A shower-bath apparatus comprising, in combination, the tubularperforated sections A and A' provided at adjacent ends withA rand "n,respectively, and a stein p extending rom the chamber n through-andvtaining aVdiaphragm p.; and ports `o and o',

-respectively at opposite sides of the diaphragm,v substantially as andfor the purpose set forth. A

JAMES KELLY.

In presence of;-

M. J. FR'os'r, J'. H LEBL rotatably 'fastened in the chamber q and con-

